18. Fundraising from Individuals and the Public
Fundraising from Individuals
and the Public
From Mobilizing Resources and Support in
Foundation Building Sourcebook: A
practitioners guide based upon experience
from Africa, Asia, and Latin America
A. Scott DuPree and David Winder w ith Cristina
Parnetti, Chandni Prasad and Shari Turitz
To obtain a complete 336-page Sourcebook,
contact Synergos or visit
w w w .synergos.org/globalphilanthropy/
Copyright © 2000 The Synergos Institute
9 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10021 USA
tel + 1 (212) 517-4900, fax + 1 (212) 517-4815
email synergos@synergos.org
Funding for the Sourcebook w as provided by the Charles
Stew art Mott Foundation, w ith additional support from Aga
Khan Foundation Canada, the Asia Pacific Philanthropy
Consortium, Avina, Inc., the Ford Foundation and Open
Society Institute.
227
Section 4
Fundraising from Individuals and the Public
This section discusses how foundations have built a capacity to mobilize
contributions from individuals and the public.
Example 1
Direct Mail, Events and the Internet
Child Relief And You (India)
Example 2
Members, Financial Adoption, Volunteers
Abrinq Foundation For Children’s Rights (Brazil)
What Can Individuals Contribute?
Promoting and encouraging a local culture of giving is a priority of many
grantmaking foundations. Through this effort, foundations can raise local
contributions and involve people in solving their own problems and those faced by
their neighbors and other communities in their country. Individual contributions
can go beyond money and include time, ideas, labor and political action. For
example, Child Relief and You (CRY), raises more than a third of its income from
contributions from individuals and has empowered thousands to become directly
involved.
For both the Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights and CRY, mobilizing the
resources of individuals and the public is essential to accomplishing programmatic
goals. They see themselves as a channel for unreleased energy. The effects of
getting many people involved and aware of ways they can contribute to their society
go beyond the dollars and cents that a foundation raises and puts to good use.
Why Do People Give to Foundations?
Why people give is, of course, related to who they are and may differ radically
based on their cultural and economic contexts. Reaching the right constituency and
giving them an appropriate means to respond and become involved is part of the
challenge. A foundation, in particular, is well-placed to offer individuals the
opportunity to have a larger impact on the problems they care about by channeling
their funds to strong initiatives. Abrinq and CRY have given people the opportunity
of making a difference in the lives of poor children through this approach.
Neither of these foundations have focused their efforts solely on the wealthiest
people in their societies. By having a cross-section of levels of giving and types of
activities, they have created a supportive network of contributors from various
economic classes and professional backgrounds.
A foundation can also be an attractive vehicle for contributions because people care
that their money is wisely spent and that it does not end up being diverted from its
intended ends. A foundation is likely to appeal to them to the extent that it excels at
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accounting for how funds are used and maintaining strong systems of monitoring
and evaluation through its internal procedures. Tax deductions, where laws have
been written to encourage philanthropic activities, may also influence an individual’s
decision to give.
The two foundations in this chapter are committed to children’s causes, which
clearly have a direct emotional appeal to many people. Other foundations and
|organizations around the world have demonstrated that individuals will give for a
broad array of causes, depending on their own commitments. These causes include
but are not limited to environment, health, community development, education,
sports and arts and culture. Examples of mobilizing resources from individuals for
endowments are discussed in Chapter 3.2.
How Do Foundations Reach Individuals?
Foundations have used a range of approaches to reach individuals. Nothing is as
powerful as direct contact with a committed board member or volunteer. People
respond to requests from people, not abstract organizations, and they are more
likely to trust someone they know. Many of the approaches discussed here build on
such people-to-people contact and facilitate these efforts by backing them up with
concrete programs, timely communication and information about the foundation’s
values, strategies and programs. Both Abrinq and CRY have pursued fundraising
methods that link with their programs and, thus, are a central part of what they do.
Approaches discussed in the following cases are:
• Affiliation programs (such as Friends of CRY)
• Awards
• Direct mail
• Overseas fundraising
• Public events
• The Internet
• Volunteer programs
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Summary Points
Individuals within the foundation’s network can help reach new constituencies. Both
Abrinq and CRY started by involving people who were close to the founders and
who were motivated by the chance to make a difference. This core of individuals
brought ideas and links to new people. As the network grew, each foundation began
to try new approaches, always coming back to and reinforcing its relationship with
long-term supporters.
Marketing expertise, whether donated or hired, is essential to reaching a broader public.
Good marketing helped the foundations to reach out beyond the people-to-people
network and send a consistent message. It also assisted with the goals of raising
public awareness and increasing the credibility of their partner grantees.
Follow up with reports, thank you letters, publicity and events encourages people to keep
giving and stay connected. Both Abrinq and CRY invest time and energy into
maintaining contact with their donors and friends through a variety of means. This
contact keeps their network involved in their work and encourages them to
contribute. It also lets contributors know that the foundations are accountable for
the contributions they accept and transparent about how they accomplish their
goals.
Donated professional services and expertise are resources that should not be overlooked.
Donations from artists and other professionals have been a key to the success of
many of the efforts of these foundations. Abrinq has had success also in launching
programs that link professionals (dentists and doctors) directly to needy children.
Example 1
Direct Mail, Events and the Internet
Child Relief And You, India
Child Relief and You (CRY) originated in 1979 through the efforts of a local
activist, Rippan Kapur, his friends and family to restore to deprived Indian children
their basic rights to food, shelter, health and education. Its fundraising strategy was
modeled partly on UNICEF’s greeting card program and it has since expanded into
direct mail and other forms of cause-related marketing. As an example, CRY
mobilized 90.1 million rupees (US$2.1 million) in its 1997-98 fiscal year, 73 percent
from donations and 22 percent from product sales.36
Soliciting by Mail
In 1993, CRY began soliciting contributions from individuals through direct mail.
Direct mail was not a common approach in India at the time. Through a bilateral
agreement between the Government of India and Norway, CRY received technical
assistance from the Stromme Memorial Foundation (SMF)—a Norwegian
foundation that seeks to increase local fundraising capacity in Africa and Asia—to
create a direct mail program relevant to local conditions in India. CRY decided to
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try direct mail because it wanted to increase the scale of its child sponsorship
program. CRY staff had been soliciting individual donations through visits,
especially to businesses. Although this received a good response, it was an expensive
way to reach out to people.
The SMF trained CRY staff to design, plan, budget for, execute, monitor and
evaluate direct-mail fundraising campaigns. CRY also received assistance in
designing its back-office operations and using donation processing software. SMF
staff visited CRY regularly to evaluate and assist its efforts.
Direct mail materials were designed by professional agencies, which donated their
services at CRY’s request. CRY found that many of the companies and organizations
that had been providing it with support in the past—such as banks, clubs and
airlines—were happy to share their mailing lists.
The following is an example of an insert in one of CRY’s direct mail appeals. In
large type on the mailing envelope the question is posed: “What does bonded labor
feel like?” Inside the envelope are a letter, a return envelope, a donation card, and,
on top, a slip of paper upon which is mounted an actual sample of sandpaper and
the response to the above question:37
The appeal attempts to make a direct link between the work of the Foundation and
the reader. It does this by communicating what CRY does (provides material
assistance and professional expertise, its track record is in measurable terms
(reaching over 500,000 children in 13 years) and how the reader can get involved
(make a contribution).
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Cry is supported by you. Because CRY is Child Relief and - and YOU.
CRY supports dedicated individuals who work with underprivileged children. By offering them vital
funds to help start new projects, and by funding their existing active projects that have a potential
to grow. CRY also provides whenever possible and wherever needed, material assistance as well
as professional expertise.
For the past 13 years, CRY has been reaching out to over 500,000 underprivileged children.
There are many, many more.
If you can show these children that you care a bit, you can make them feel human again. Not
abused, exploited persons, born to be ruled. Enclosed is a donation card. All you have to do is fill
out and mail this card to us with your cheque/draft.
You can further help us by adding (on the back of the donation card) the names and addresses of
others whom you think would like to extend financial support to us. And you’ll discover how a
small contribution from you can change someone’s future. Make it bright. And sunny.
Note: Donations of Rs. 250 and above are eligible for tax relief under Section 80 G. 38
Once an individual has contributed, CRY encourages them to continue donating
through regular updates, feedback on its programs and regular appeals. In CRY’s
experience, the success of this approach is related to building a good mailing list
that targets people with an expressed and potential interest in assisting children, as
well as regular communications with its supporters. To strengthen and increase its
mailing list, CRY also asks contributors for names and addresses of others who
would be interested in CRY’s programs.
The estimated receipt from direct mail donors for the first year’s effort (1993/94)
was 4.7 million rupees (about US$150,000) out of a total of donations from
individuals of 17.74 million rupees (about US$565,000).
Encouraging the participation of individuals can take forms other than
soliciting donations. On the back of a form requesting cash contributions, CRY has
printed a questionnaire. In addition to names, addresses, and
occupations, this form asks for the following information from individuals:
I would like to help children by:
___Selling/acquiring orders for CRY products
___Persuading friends/family members to support CRY schemes
___Acquiring members’ lists of associations/organizations/clubs for CRY’s use
___Raising financial support from corporate sector/business houses/ housing societies/
associations like_______________________________________________
___Raising material donations from friends/suppliers for CRY’s Materials Bank
___Spreading awareness through media involvement by writing/speaking to journalists/letters to
the editor/contacting schools and colleges/____________________________
___Providing my skills if CRY needs them writing/designing/photography/computer
programming_________________________________________________
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Volunteering my time for CRY Events/Office work
No. of days in a week I can assist________________
No. of hours I can spare in a day_________________
At CRY office or from my residence_______________
Kind of work I can do for an event:
___Sell tickets
___ At the venues
___ Run a CRY stall
________
Names and addresses of my friends whom CRY can write to:
__________________________________________________________ 39
Volunteers are primarily asked to raise awareness about CRY’s work and to solicit
donations on its behalf. Volunteers organize small events and collection drives
as well.
Public Events
Public events are a lynchpin in CRY’s strategy to reach out to individuals. Events
serve both CRY’s program (raising awareness or highlighting an issue) and resource
mobilization (contributions and volunteers) goals. The functions of advocacy,
fundraising and education are intermingled, as they are all seen as leading to the
same goal—building support for improving the conditions of children. A
chronology of major public events from 1979 to 1994 illustrates the scope and type
of these events:
1979:
1981:
1983:
1985:
1986:
1988:
1993:
1994:
1995:
1995:
Buy a Brick, Build a School (Bombay)
Circus Magic: three clowns from London stage a traveling workshop for children
and raise funds for CRY (Bombay)
Children’s Day: celebrated Indian artist M.F. Hussain paints in the company of
1,000 children (Bombay)
Audio-visual screening of CRY activity for associations and schools (Bombay)
School to School program to sensitize affluent children to the needs of the less
fortunate (Bombay)
Art for CRY: 144 artists donate 180 pieces of work to mark CRY’s 10th
anniversary; companies support the ensuing exhibit which travels across all CRY
regions
Bal Sawaal (Bombay): traveling festival of hope held over three weekends
Aladdin: premiere showing (in all regions);
Art for Cry: 15th anniversary exhibit (Bombay and Delhi)
Remembering Rippan [CRY’s founder]: a tribute (national)40
These special events served the major purpose of involving a broader constituency
in CRY’s work and raising the level of contributions. The cost of the events and
media coverage were sponsored by corporate partners with ticket proceeds coming
to CRY. The extensive use of volunteers contributed to the success of the events.
233
The 1988 Art for Cry exhibit (which marked CRY’s tenth anniversary) is a good
example. CRY asked the Tata Group of Companies to underwrite the expenses. It
then called on the large network of volunteers, professionals and artists to donate
their work and time.
From time-to-time, CRY organizes special events which give a larger number of people the
chance to participate. In the process, a substantial amount of incremental funds are raised,
enabling CRY to extend improved services to more and more children. One such event was “ Art
for CRY” in August ‘88— a touring exhibition of the donated works of 140 Indian artists.
Accompanying products like posters, an art catalogue and other publications were fully
sponsored by corporate contributions, and made with the help of a huge pool of professionals—
photographers, printers, designers, paper merchants— as part of their contribution. 41
World Wide Web Solicitations
CRY has a web page at http://www.cry.org that it uses primarily to raise awareness
about CRY; it’s annual report and updates on its projects can be downloaded. It also
is pioneering the use of the web as a way of making and maintaining contact with
potential donors and volunteers. It has not actively started raising funds directly
from the web, but it has received a small amount of donations from contributors
who reach it through the internet. Donations must still be sent by regular mail.
CRY includes a form for contributors to print out and send in with their donation.
It also collects their contact information electronically with their pledged donations
or offers to volunteer.
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Overseas Funding
As a strategy for raising funding from foreign sources, CRY established a
representative branch in the US in 1991. CRY USA offices target primarily
nonresident Indians in the US. The headquarters is in Princeton, New Jersey. Being
registered as a section 501(c)(3) under US tax code enables CRY to solicit
contributions and earn support from contributors who want a US tax deduction.
CRY has offices or volunteer contacts in many US cities: among them, San
Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The offices collect donations and sell CRY
products with the help of volunteers (in 1999, CRY USA hired its first full-time
employee). Many of them get involved through the network, because they are aware
of CRY’s activities in India and see it as a way to stay connected. The success of
CRY USA arises from its ability to take advantage of this natural constituency in the
United States.42
The organization sees itself as more than a US support organization for its Indian
parent. It is organized in the same way as its Indian parent and sets aside about 10
percent of what it earns for US projects. From the proceeds of a CRY event in
Atlanta, for example, CRY supported a local day shelter for woman and children.
One challenge it faces is to maintain good communications and manage
expectations with CRY in India. It has made use of the internet (both email and
linked websites) to keep the connection strong. A web-based appeal is shown below.
In addition, the Management Committee (eight members in different cities) meets
over a conference call once every two weeks.
Fundraising events are sponsored through local chapters. For example, CRY Walk
in Atlanta in 1998 raised US$50,000 and gained the support of local companies. In
1999, CRY plans to expand this event to two new cities—San Francisco and Dallas.
Through its website it solicits donations and participation in its events. The website
helps it reach a third of its contributors who live in cities where it does not have
representatives. Many of these people discovered CRY USA through its website.
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5 3 Donors
As of 0 8 / 1 7 / 9 9 1 2 : 4 0
have pledged a t ot al of
Our Goal is t o raise $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 by Oc t ober 1 5 t h.
$6705
Pledge Your Support Now !
Donat e using Credit Card,
Chec k or St oc k s.
You M ade A Dif f erenc e
How You Can Help
Fliers
CRY Walk/ Run
CRY hom e page
Continuing to act on the belief that w e
c an m ak e a d i f f er en c e an d h el p m i l l i on s of
underprivileged c hildren, CRY is
organizing a 3 K/ 5 K/ 1 0 K Walk/ Run in t hree m ajor c it ies in t he U. S.
This f undraiser seek s t o generat e f unds
f or c hild developm ent init iat ives, and t o
raise t he aw areness about CRY’ s ac t ivit ies
and it s involvem ent in t he loc al c om m unit y.
Benef iciaries:
Inst it ut e of Child Healt h, Calc ut t a, India
Loc al Benef ic iaries
• St reet Cat s, San Franc isc o, CA, USA
• At lant a Day Shelt er f or Wom en and Children, GA, USA.
While you m ay be t oo f ar aw ay t o ac t ually w alk or run, your t hought s, w ishes and
support are deeply valued. Through t he “ PAVE A PATH” pledge drive, you have an
opport unit y t o show t hat you do c are.
As a t ok en of apprec iat ion, you w ill rec eive a CRY Walk but t on w it h a m inim um
pledge of $ 1 0 . 0 0 and a CRY Walk t -sshirt w it h a
m i n i m u m p l ed g e of $ 5 0 . 0 0 .
All donat ions t o CRY are t ax-ddeduc t ible under IRS Code Sec t ion 5 0 1 (c )3 .
43
In 1998, CRY USA gave US$200,000 in support to CRY and in 1999 it intends to
raise close to US$700,000, having expanded its presence to a number of new cities.
The CRY USA network has grown to 15 centers. Building on its success with the
Indian community in the US, CRY in the late 1990s began to extend its reach
beyond Americans of Indian origin.
236
Example 2
Members, Financial Adoption, Volunteers
Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights (Brazil)
The Abrinq Foundation was started in 1990 in the defense of children’s rights in
Brazil. Abrinq defines fundraising as one of its main pillars of action. In addition to
raising funds for its projects, it sees resource mobilization as an important strategy
in creating a bridge between the potential of society and the needs of Brazilian
children.
Abrinq’s programs in the area of advocacy, communication and its partnerships with
child-care organizations generate a large amount of interest on their own, thus
contributing to its recognition and support from individuals. An example is the
annual award it gives to individuals and organizations who have been especially
active or dedicated to children’s interests (discussed in Chapter 5). The event serves
to strengthen the foundation’s network, introduce additional potential sponsors to
the foundation and promote the type of action that Abrinq is working to mobilize.
Abrinq has a particular emphasis on involving individuals. Individuals who associate
themselves with the Foundation do so through cash and in-kind donations to
programs, becoming sustaining members and volunteering their time, skills and
labor. Abrinq’s website notes a number of ways that an individual can contribute:
• Become a sustaining member
• Give to the endowment
• Adopt the financial needs of a child
• Finance a project
Becoming a Sustaining Member
Abrinq has invited individuals and businesses to become sustaining members as a
way to solicit support and expand its constituency. According to Abrinq’s Executive
Director, Ana Maria Wilheim, Abrinq has solicited members through direct mail
marketing and has now conducted numerous individual campaigns. Revenue from
members represented 70% of Abrinq’s annual income for institutional maintenance
in 1998.44 Abrinq has considered responses from around two percent of the total
solicitations to be good. On the average Abrinq expects a campaign to last about
three months.45
One of the challenges to conducting a campaign is to obtain mailing lists of
individuals of the right size and profile to make the campaign cost effective. Abrinq
generally seeks mailing lists of between 50,000 and 100,000 names but has used
some with as many as 500,000 names.46 Its strategy is to ask its corporate partners to
provide it with their mailing lists. Often working with a particular type of company,
Abrinq has focused its efforts on reaching specific professional groups.
237
In instituting a direct mail campaign, Wilheim says the following factors are very
important to consider:
• The geographic region to be reached
• The level of circulation of money within society
• The economic situation of the country
• Degree of mobilization of civil society on social questions
Abrinq launched its affiliation program in 1991 and by the end of 1998 had over
1200 sustaining members. It has four levels of membership:
• Patrons - minimum R10,000 endowment gift
• Benefactor - minimum R5000 endowment gift
• Honorable Associates - minimum R5000 program gift
• Sustaining Members - Minimum R50 per month
In order to become a Sustaining Member individuals make a commitment to
contribute to Abrinq a minimum of R50 monthly (a little less than US$50 in 1999).
The categories of Patrons and Benefactors were added to accommodate the launch
of an endowment-building effort in the 1990s. The following is the text and form
used in a direct mail campaign. Abrinq asks for donations and emphasizes the
number of children it has benefited and how support has reached them. The form
asks for set amounts and gives people two methods of contacting Abrinq—phone
and mail. It also asks how an acknowledgement should be made; this facilitates
response and helps people who are looking for a tax deduction.
The Abrinq Foundation for the Rights of Children administers more than 20 projects benefiting
Brazilian children. In order to reach more children, Abrinq needs more partners. It needs you.
With your participation, thousands of children and adolescents will be able to have a better life.
To give you an idea, currently 281,461 children are benefiting from 411 Child Friendly
Companies and 112,083 from 34 projects to improve public school financing through the Believe
It to See It Program. The Living Library Program has already trained 159 educators and provided
84 children’s book collections to 31,365 children. Already the Our Children and Ahead with the
Ball projects benefit 11,773 children, The Abrinq Foundation has arranged for 40 toy libraries in
various cities of the country that are visited by at least 12,000 children and calls on a network of
65 journalists who work in defense of the rights of children and adolescents. Participate. Help to
meet the needs of our children by filling out the coupon or calling 0800 55 1220..
238
I would like to become a Sustaining Member of the Abrinq Foundation and to contribute to
projects that benefit Brazilian children.
Name: ________________________________________________
Occupation: ____________________________________________
Name of business: _______________________________________
Street or P.O. box address: _________________________________
City: _________ State:_______________Zip code: _________
Business telephone:___________________ Home telephone____
I pledge to contribute monthly:
__ R$ 50 __R$ 75 __R$ 100 __R$ 150 __R$200
__R$ 250 __R$ 300 __ Other amount R$ ___________
Payments should be made through a bank draft sent by mail.
I would like to receive acknowledgment in the name of:
__Business
Date: ____/____/____
__Fiscal person
Signature: _________________________
Send this form by mail or fax:
Rua Alberto Faria, 473–Alto de Pinheiros
05459-000–Sao Paulo-SP
Fone/Fax: 0800 55 1220 48
Abrinq maintains a special telephone number through which the caller can reach it
free of charge to respond to requests. the toll-free number is a key element in
accessing potential contributors. The line is reserved for contributors and potential
contributors. Abrinq’s three person fundraising staff manages an average of about 60
calls per month over the line.
As Brazilians do not normally send checks or other types of cash payments through
the mail, Abrinq asks for contributions to be made through a system of bank drafts,
commonly used for making payments in Brazil. At the end of the month, Abrinq
submits lists of these slips to its bank, which directly debits the accounts of its
contributors.
Financial Adoption
In addition to its ongoing drive for sustaining members, Abrinq’s periodic
fundraising campaigns at times take on a life of their own. One example, is the Our
Children Project, which Abrinq launched in 1992. The idea was to create a capillary
system of private social fundraising to assist children in risk situations. Abrinq’s role
is to identify and select institutions that provide direct assistance to children
239
(nursery schools, youth centers, and shelters), and then raise funds from companies
and individuals to support them. Each monthly contribution finances assistance to a
child in these institutions.
Abrinq calls its solution “financial adoption.” Through
monthly contributions,
individuals and corporations fund assistance for one
child. Abrinq manages the
contribution and supports selected institutions guaranteeing the full application of the funds raised go to the
assistance of children, an increase in the number of
children assisted and an improvement in the quality of
assistance. In order to ensure that it can directly monitor the funding, Abrinq limited the program to the
greater São Paulo area where it has its headquarters. Abrinq set up an advisory
board for the project with participation of specialists from UNICEF and Brazilian
companies and social institutions.
Two initial partners were crucial in the launching of the program. The W.K.
Kellogg Foundation gave a grant for the staff and material costs. The Lew, Lara,
Propeg Advertising agency produced a commercial that received wide play on
television stations in São Paulo. The commercial showed a business executive who
begs for money in a reversal of position with street children. The media campaign
started in September 1993 with ads in magazines and newspapers, radio spots and a
TV commercial. It achieved high public impact, wide spread recognition for the
Abrinq name and stimulated a rapid accumulation of funds.
In addition to the media campaign, the project received the support of the
Credicard company, which made its 100,000 person client database available to
Abrinq for a direct marketing campaign. An example of a direct mail marketing
pitch follows:
If nothing is done now, nothing will change tomorrow.
Since 1993, the Our Children Project of the Abrinq Foundation for the Rights of Childrin, has
counted on the participation of companies and persons like you who, through a system of
financial adoption, now contribute to an improvement in the lives of many children and
adolescents.
The complete transfer of contributions to the child-care institutions has the objective of covering
the direct costs of caring for the child (human resources, nutrition, educational material, etc).
Through information and reports you are regularly informed about the activities of the project.
Today 1 3 0 0 c om panies and individuals contribute R$ 9 1 m ont hly to 2 3 8 8 c hildren and yout h who
are cared for in 43 social organizations in the metropolitan São Paulo area.
You t oo should part ic ipat e.
Collaborat e w it h t he Our Children Projec t 48
240
In ten months, the project raised assistance for over 2,000 children, not only
meeting its goal for the first year, but raising twice what it had expected to raise in
the second year. Over five years (1993-7), it raised in total the equivalent of over
US$6 million.
Abrinq reports back to the contributors to the Our Children Program through
semester reports. These reports account for how Abrinq has spent the contributions
it receives, thank the donors and encourage them to keep contributing to the
program. The introduction to the 8th semester report (January to June 1997)
explains:
The story of a mustard seed is known; it is small but it grows into a big plant. The analogy seems
appropriate to us as we finish the quarter in the Our Children Project. What was born in June of
1993 as an emergency initiative has been transformed into one of the most successful Brazilian
projects for the care of children and adolescents, benefiting today more than 2400 children. And
that principally thanks to people like you, our contributors.
Abrinq believes the success of this campaign can be traced to two important factors:
• There are people, corporations and organizations that want to help children and
have the resources to do so but do not know how or what to do
• There are child-care institutions with knowledge and experience, needing funds
but that do not know how to raise them49
Involving Volunteers
Volunteers are fundamental to many of Abrinq’s programs and objectives. Abrinq
seeks to mobilize Brazilian society behind child rights and development. Volunteers
represent not only an important resource in terms of labor and skills but Abrinq
sees them as fundamental to encouraging full participation of Brazilian society in
improving the condition of its children. Abrinq reaches out to volunteers in almost
all its program areas. In some cases, as in the Our Children Project, the extent of
participation may not go beyond a monthly contribution, in others, such as the
Adopt a Smile Program, the volunteer is the heart of the program. In 1997,
Abrinq’s count of the people it had involved through its various projects was:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adopt a Smile Project— 281 dentists
Our Children Project— 1,289 people
Living Library Project— 187 teachers
Child-Friendly Company Program— 902 companies
Mayors for Children Project— 628 mayors
Ahead with the Ball Project— 26 organizations
Child-Friendly Journalist Project— 65 journalists50
241
Volunteers also contribute time and efforts to the development of Abrinq itself. For
example, Abrinq’s 1997 annual report it thanks three volunteers who assisted it on
human resources and legal issues.51
The Adopt a Smile Project was launched by Abrinq in June of 1997 with 15 dentists
and counted over 300 dentists by 1999. The participating dentists pledge to care for
the teeth of a child until the child reaches adulthood. In return they are licensed to
use the Abrinq Adopt a Smile stamp pictured below. Abrinq developed this program
in partnership with DOC (a radiological dentistry company) and a committed
dentist (Fábio Bibancos) who wanted to encourage his colleagues to help children.
Here is a description of the project:
What is t he Projec t
The project is a movement of dentists to give dental health to
children and adolescents cared for by institutions connected
to Abrinq. The goal is that each dentist “ adopts” the dental
treatment of a child or adolescent and receives the stamp
“ Adopt a Smile. ”
What is t he St am p
Dentists who care for a child or an adolescent will be authorized to use this stamp “Adopt a Smile” which shows that they
participate in improving the health conditions of children and
adolescents in our country. Participating dentists can use this
stamp in their practice (for example, on prescription books
and in their waiting rooms). This will be a way for us
to know:
M Y DENTIST CARES.
How t o Part ic ipat e
The dentist should call t (0 1 1 ) 6 7 . 2 2 5 1 and request an
enrollment form and orientation details about how the project
works. 52
References
36
CRY Annual Report, 1997, pg 23.
37
CRY direct mail materials. Undated.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
D’Souza, Anthoy T. Child Relief & You (India): A Case Study. New York: The Synergos
Institute, 1997.
40
41
CRY brochure. Undated.
42
Phone conversation with Vijay Vemulapalli, Management Committee Member, CRY
USA. August 1999.
43
CRY USA. Website: www.us.cry.org/.
44
Abrinq fundraising presentation. August 1999.
45
Phone discussion with Anamarie Wilheim, Executive Director, the Abrinq Foundation.
March 1999.
46
Ibid.
47
Abrinq direct mail source. Undated.
48
Abrinq program brochure. Undated.
49
Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights: A History of Action 1990-1997.
50
Ibid.
51
Abrinq Report of Activities 1997.
52
Abrinq brochure. Undated.
and the Public
From Mobilizing Resources and Support in
Foundation Building Sourcebook: A
practitioners guide based upon experience
from Africa, Asia, and Latin America
A. Scott DuPree and David Winder w ith Cristina
Parnetti, Chandni Prasad and Shari Turitz
To obtain a complete 336-page Sourcebook,
contact Synergos or visit
w w w .synergos.org/globalphilanthropy/
Copyright © 2000 The Synergos Institute
9 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10021 USA
tel + 1 (212) 517-4900, fax + 1 (212) 517-4815
email synergos@synergos.org
Funding for the Sourcebook w as provided by the Charles
Stew art Mott Foundation, w ith additional support from Aga
Khan Foundation Canada, the Asia Pacific Philanthropy
Consortium, Avina, Inc., the Ford Foundation and Open
Society Institute.
227
Section 4
Fundraising from Individuals and the Public
This section discusses how foundations have built a capacity to mobilize
contributions from individuals and the public.
Example 1
Direct Mail, Events and the Internet
Child Relief And You (India)
Example 2
Members, Financial Adoption, Volunteers
Abrinq Foundation For Children’s Rights (Brazil)
What Can Individuals Contribute?
Promoting and encouraging a local culture of giving is a priority of many
grantmaking foundations. Through this effort, foundations can raise local
contributions and involve people in solving their own problems and those faced by
their neighbors and other communities in their country. Individual contributions
can go beyond money and include time, ideas, labor and political action. For
example, Child Relief and You (CRY), raises more than a third of its income from
contributions from individuals and has empowered thousands to become directly
involved.
For both the Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights and CRY, mobilizing the
resources of individuals and the public is essential to accomplishing programmatic
goals. They see themselves as a channel for unreleased energy. The effects of
getting many people involved and aware of ways they can contribute to their society
go beyond the dollars and cents that a foundation raises and puts to good use.
Why Do People Give to Foundations?
Why people give is, of course, related to who they are and may differ radically
based on their cultural and economic contexts. Reaching the right constituency and
giving them an appropriate means to respond and become involved is part of the
challenge. A foundation, in particular, is well-placed to offer individuals the
opportunity to have a larger impact on the problems they care about by channeling
their funds to strong initiatives. Abrinq and CRY have given people the opportunity
of making a difference in the lives of poor children through this approach.
Neither of these foundations have focused their efforts solely on the wealthiest
people in their societies. By having a cross-section of levels of giving and types of
activities, they have created a supportive network of contributors from various
economic classes and professional backgrounds.
A foundation can also be an attractive vehicle for contributions because people care
that their money is wisely spent and that it does not end up being diverted from its
intended ends. A foundation is likely to appeal to them to the extent that it excels at
228
accounting for how funds are used and maintaining strong systems of monitoring
and evaluation through its internal procedures. Tax deductions, where laws have
been written to encourage philanthropic activities, may also influence an individual’s
decision to give.
The two foundations in this chapter are committed to children’s causes, which
clearly have a direct emotional appeal to many people. Other foundations and
|organizations around the world have demonstrated that individuals will give for a
broad array of causes, depending on their own commitments. These causes include
but are not limited to environment, health, community development, education,
sports and arts and culture. Examples of mobilizing resources from individuals for
endowments are discussed in Chapter 3.2.
How Do Foundations Reach Individuals?
Foundations have used a range of approaches to reach individuals. Nothing is as
powerful as direct contact with a committed board member or volunteer. People
respond to requests from people, not abstract organizations, and they are more
likely to trust someone they know. Many of the approaches discussed here build on
such people-to-people contact and facilitate these efforts by backing them up with
concrete programs, timely communication and information about the foundation’s
values, strategies and programs. Both Abrinq and CRY have pursued fundraising
methods that link with their programs and, thus, are a central part of what they do.
Approaches discussed in the following cases are:
• Affiliation programs (such as Friends of CRY)
• Awards
• Direct mail
• Overseas fundraising
• Public events
• The Internet
• Volunteer programs
229
Summary Points
Individuals within the foundation’s network can help reach new constituencies. Both
Abrinq and CRY started by involving people who were close to the founders and
who were motivated by the chance to make a difference. This core of individuals
brought ideas and links to new people. As the network grew, each foundation began
to try new approaches, always coming back to and reinforcing its relationship with
long-term supporters.
Marketing expertise, whether donated or hired, is essential to reaching a broader public.
Good marketing helped the foundations to reach out beyond the people-to-people
network and send a consistent message. It also assisted with the goals of raising
public awareness and increasing the credibility of their partner grantees.
Follow up with reports, thank you letters, publicity and events encourages people to keep
giving and stay connected. Both Abrinq and CRY invest time and energy into
maintaining contact with their donors and friends through a variety of means. This
contact keeps their network involved in their work and encourages them to
contribute. It also lets contributors know that the foundations are accountable for
the contributions they accept and transparent about how they accomplish their
goals.
Donated professional services and expertise are resources that should not be overlooked.
Donations from artists and other professionals have been a key to the success of
many of the efforts of these foundations. Abrinq has had success also in launching
programs that link professionals (dentists and doctors) directly to needy children.
Example 1
Direct Mail, Events and the Internet
Child Relief And You, India
Child Relief and You (CRY) originated in 1979 through the efforts of a local
activist, Rippan Kapur, his friends and family to restore to deprived Indian children
their basic rights to food, shelter, health and education. Its fundraising strategy was
modeled partly on UNICEF’s greeting card program and it has since expanded into
direct mail and other forms of cause-related marketing. As an example, CRY
mobilized 90.1 million rupees (US$2.1 million) in its 1997-98 fiscal year, 73 percent
from donations and 22 percent from product sales.36
Soliciting by Mail
In 1993, CRY began soliciting contributions from individuals through direct mail.
Direct mail was not a common approach in India at the time. Through a bilateral
agreement between the Government of India and Norway, CRY received technical
assistance from the Stromme Memorial Foundation (SMF)—a Norwegian
foundation that seeks to increase local fundraising capacity in Africa and Asia—to
create a direct mail program relevant to local conditions in India. CRY decided to
230
try direct mail because it wanted to increase the scale of its child sponsorship
program. CRY staff had been soliciting individual donations through visits,
especially to businesses. Although this received a good response, it was an expensive
way to reach out to people.
The SMF trained CRY staff to design, plan, budget for, execute, monitor and
evaluate direct-mail fundraising campaigns. CRY also received assistance in
designing its back-office operations and using donation processing software. SMF
staff visited CRY regularly to evaluate and assist its efforts.
Direct mail materials were designed by professional agencies, which donated their
services at CRY’s request. CRY found that many of the companies and organizations
that had been providing it with support in the past—such as banks, clubs and
airlines—were happy to share their mailing lists.
The following is an example of an insert in one of CRY’s direct mail appeals. In
large type on the mailing envelope the question is posed: “What does bonded labor
feel like?” Inside the envelope are a letter, a return envelope, a donation card, and,
on top, a slip of paper upon which is mounted an actual sample of sandpaper and
the response to the above question:37
The appeal attempts to make a direct link between the work of the Foundation and
the reader. It does this by communicating what CRY does (provides material
assistance and professional expertise, its track record is in measurable terms
(reaching over 500,000 children in 13 years) and how the reader can get involved
(make a contribution).
231
Cry is supported by you. Because CRY is Child Relief and - and YOU.
CRY supports dedicated individuals who work with underprivileged children. By offering them vital
funds to help start new projects, and by funding their existing active projects that have a potential
to grow. CRY also provides whenever possible and wherever needed, material assistance as well
as professional expertise.
For the past 13 years, CRY has been reaching out to over 500,000 underprivileged children.
There are many, many more.
If you can show these children that you care a bit, you can make them feel human again. Not
abused, exploited persons, born to be ruled. Enclosed is a donation card. All you have to do is fill
out and mail this card to us with your cheque/draft.
You can further help us by adding (on the back of the donation card) the names and addresses of
others whom you think would like to extend financial support to us. And you’ll discover how a
small contribution from you can change someone’s future. Make it bright. And sunny.
Note: Donations of Rs. 250 and above are eligible for tax relief under Section 80 G. 38
Once an individual has contributed, CRY encourages them to continue donating
through regular updates, feedback on its programs and regular appeals. In CRY’s
experience, the success of this approach is related to building a good mailing list
that targets people with an expressed and potential interest in assisting children, as
well as regular communications with its supporters. To strengthen and increase its
mailing list, CRY also asks contributors for names and addresses of others who
would be interested in CRY’s programs.
The estimated receipt from direct mail donors for the first year’s effort (1993/94)
was 4.7 million rupees (about US$150,000) out of a total of donations from
individuals of 17.74 million rupees (about US$565,000).
Encouraging the participation of individuals can take forms other than
soliciting donations. On the back of a form requesting cash contributions, CRY has
printed a questionnaire. In addition to names, addresses, and
occupations, this form asks for the following information from individuals:
I would like to help children by:
___Selling/acquiring orders for CRY products
___Persuading friends/family members to support CRY schemes
___Acquiring members’ lists of associations/organizations/clubs for CRY’s use
___Raising financial support from corporate sector/business houses/ housing societies/
associations like_______________________________________________
___Raising material donations from friends/suppliers for CRY’s Materials Bank
___Spreading awareness through media involvement by writing/speaking to journalists/letters to
the editor/contacting schools and colleges/____________________________
___Providing my skills if CRY needs them writing/designing/photography/computer
programming_________________________________________________
232
Volunteering my time for CRY Events/Office work
No. of days in a week I can assist________________
No. of hours I can spare in a day_________________
At CRY office or from my residence_______________
Kind of work I can do for an event:
___Sell tickets
___ At the venues
___ Run a CRY stall
________
Names and addresses of my friends whom CRY can write to:
__________________________________________________________ 39
Volunteers are primarily asked to raise awareness about CRY’s work and to solicit
donations on its behalf. Volunteers organize small events and collection drives
as well.
Public Events
Public events are a lynchpin in CRY’s strategy to reach out to individuals. Events
serve both CRY’s program (raising awareness or highlighting an issue) and resource
mobilization (contributions and volunteers) goals. The functions of advocacy,
fundraising and education are intermingled, as they are all seen as leading to the
same goal—building support for improving the conditions of children. A
chronology of major public events from 1979 to 1994 illustrates the scope and type
of these events:
1979:
1981:
1983:
1985:
1986:
1988:
1993:
1994:
1995:
1995:
Buy a Brick, Build a School (Bombay)
Circus Magic: three clowns from London stage a traveling workshop for children
and raise funds for CRY (Bombay)
Children’s Day: celebrated Indian artist M.F. Hussain paints in the company of
1,000 children (Bombay)
Audio-visual screening of CRY activity for associations and schools (Bombay)
School to School program to sensitize affluent children to the needs of the less
fortunate (Bombay)
Art for CRY: 144 artists donate 180 pieces of work to mark CRY’s 10th
anniversary; companies support the ensuing exhibit which travels across all CRY
regions
Bal Sawaal (Bombay): traveling festival of hope held over three weekends
Aladdin: premiere showing (in all regions);
Art for Cry: 15th anniversary exhibit (Bombay and Delhi)
Remembering Rippan [CRY’s founder]: a tribute (national)40
These special events served the major purpose of involving a broader constituency
in CRY’s work and raising the level of contributions. The cost of the events and
media coverage were sponsored by corporate partners with ticket proceeds coming
to CRY. The extensive use of volunteers contributed to the success of the events.
233
The 1988 Art for Cry exhibit (which marked CRY’s tenth anniversary) is a good
example. CRY asked the Tata Group of Companies to underwrite the expenses. It
then called on the large network of volunteers, professionals and artists to donate
their work and time.
From time-to-time, CRY organizes special events which give a larger number of people the
chance to participate. In the process, a substantial amount of incremental funds are raised,
enabling CRY to extend improved services to more and more children. One such event was “ Art
for CRY” in August ‘88— a touring exhibition of the donated works of 140 Indian artists.
Accompanying products like posters, an art catalogue and other publications were fully
sponsored by corporate contributions, and made with the help of a huge pool of professionals—
photographers, printers, designers, paper merchants— as part of their contribution. 41
World Wide Web Solicitations
CRY has a web page at http://www.cry.org that it uses primarily to raise awareness
about CRY; it’s annual report and updates on its projects can be downloaded. It also
is pioneering the use of the web as a way of making and maintaining contact with
potential donors and volunteers. It has not actively started raising funds directly
from the web, but it has received a small amount of donations from contributors
who reach it through the internet. Donations must still be sent by regular mail.
CRY includes a form for contributors to print out and send in with their donation.
It also collects their contact information electronically with their pledged donations
or offers to volunteer.
234
Overseas Funding
As a strategy for raising funding from foreign sources, CRY established a
representative branch in the US in 1991. CRY USA offices target primarily
nonresident Indians in the US. The headquarters is in Princeton, New Jersey. Being
registered as a section 501(c)(3) under US tax code enables CRY to solicit
contributions and earn support from contributors who want a US tax deduction.
CRY has offices or volunteer contacts in many US cities: among them, San
Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The offices collect donations and sell CRY
products with the help of volunteers (in 1999, CRY USA hired its first full-time
employee). Many of them get involved through the network, because they are aware
of CRY’s activities in India and see it as a way to stay connected. The success of
CRY USA arises from its ability to take advantage of this natural constituency in the
United States.42
The organization sees itself as more than a US support organization for its Indian
parent. It is organized in the same way as its Indian parent and sets aside about 10
percent of what it earns for US projects. From the proceeds of a CRY event in
Atlanta, for example, CRY supported a local day shelter for woman and children.
One challenge it faces is to maintain good communications and manage
expectations with CRY in India. It has made use of the internet (both email and
linked websites) to keep the connection strong. A web-based appeal is shown below.
In addition, the Management Committee (eight members in different cities) meets
over a conference call once every two weeks.
Fundraising events are sponsored through local chapters. For example, CRY Walk
in Atlanta in 1998 raised US$50,000 and gained the support of local companies. In
1999, CRY plans to expand this event to two new cities—San Francisco and Dallas.
Through its website it solicits donations and participation in its events. The website
helps it reach a third of its contributors who live in cities where it does not have
representatives. Many of these people discovered CRY USA through its website.
235
5 3 Donors
As of 0 8 / 1 7 / 9 9 1 2 : 4 0
have pledged a t ot al of
Our Goal is t o raise $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 by Oc t ober 1 5 t h.
$6705
Pledge Your Support Now !
Donat e using Credit Card,
Chec k or St oc k s.
You M ade A Dif f erenc e
How You Can Help
Fliers
CRY Walk/ Run
CRY hom e page
Continuing to act on the belief that w e
c an m ak e a d i f f er en c e an d h el p m i l l i on s of
underprivileged c hildren, CRY is
organizing a 3 K/ 5 K/ 1 0 K Walk/ Run in t hree m ajor c it ies in t he U. S.
This f undraiser seek s t o generat e f unds
f or c hild developm ent init iat ives, and t o
raise t he aw areness about CRY’ s ac t ivit ies
and it s involvem ent in t he loc al c om m unit y.
Benef iciaries:
Inst it ut e of Child Healt h, Calc ut t a, India
Loc al Benef ic iaries
• St reet Cat s, San Franc isc o, CA, USA
• At lant a Day Shelt er f or Wom en and Children, GA, USA.
While you m ay be t oo f ar aw ay t o ac t ually w alk or run, your t hought s, w ishes and
support are deeply valued. Through t he “ PAVE A PATH” pledge drive, you have an
opport unit y t o show t hat you do c are.
As a t ok en of apprec iat ion, you w ill rec eive a CRY Walk but t on w it h a m inim um
pledge of $ 1 0 . 0 0 and a CRY Walk t -sshirt w it h a
m i n i m u m p l ed g e of $ 5 0 . 0 0 .
All donat ions t o CRY are t ax-ddeduc t ible under IRS Code Sec t ion 5 0 1 (c )3 .
43
In 1998, CRY USA gave US$200,000 in support to CRY and in 1999 it intends to
raise close to US$700,000, having expanded its presence to a number of new cities.
The CRY USA network has grown to 15 centers. Building on its success with the
Indian community in the US, CRY in the late 1990s began to extend its reach
beyond Americans of Indian origin.
236
Example 2
Members, Financial Adoption, Volunteers
Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights (Brazil)
The Abrinq Foundation was started in 1990 in the defense of children’s rights in
Brazil. Abrinq defines fundraising as one of its main pillars of action. In addition to
raising funds for its projects, it sees resource mobilization as an important strategy
in creating a bridge between the potential of society and the needs of Brazilian
children.
Abrinq’s programs in the area of advocacy, communication and its partnerships with
child-care organizations generate a large amount of interest on their own, thus
contributing to its recognition and support from individuals. An example is the
annual award it gives to individuals and organizations who have been especially
active or dedicated to children’s interests (discussed in Chapter 5). The event serves
to strengthen the foundation’s network, introduce additional potential sponsors to
the foundation and promote the type of action that Abrinq is working to mobilize.
Abrinq has a particular emphasis on involving individuals. Individuals who associate
themselves with the Foundation do so through cash and in-kind donations to
programs, becoming sustaining members and volunteering their time, skills and
labor. Abrinq’s website notes a number of ways that an individual can contribute:
• Become a sustaining member
• Give to the endowment
• Adopt the financial needs of a child
• Finance a project
Becoming a Sustaining Member
Abrinq has invited individuals and businesses to become sustaining members as a
way to solicit support and expand its constituency. According to Abrinq’s Executive
Director, Ana Maria Wilheim, Abrinq has solicited members through direct mail
marketing and has now conducted numerous individual campaigns. Revenue from
members represented 70% of Abrinq’s annual income for institutional maintenance
in 1998.44 Abrinq has considered responses from around two percent of the total
solicitations to be good. On the average Abrinq expects a campaign to last about
three months.45
One of the challenges to conducting a campaign is to obtain mailing lists of
individuals of the right size and profile to make the campaign cost effective. Abrinq
generally seeks mailing lists of between 50,000 and 100,000 names but has used
some with as many as 500,000 names.46 Its strategy is to ask its corporate partners to
provide it with their mailing lists. Often working with a particular type of company,
Abrinq has focused its efforts on reaching specific professional groups.
237
In instituting a direct mail campaign, Wilheim says the following factors are very
important to consider:
• The geographic region to be reached
• The level of circulation of money within society
• The economic situation of the country
• Degree of mobilization of civil society on social questions
Abrinq launched its affiliation program in 1991 and by the end of 1998 had over
1200 sustaining members. It has four levels of membership:
• Patrons - minimum R10,000 endowment gift
• Benefactor - minimum R5000 endowment gift
• Honorable Associates - minimum R5000 program gift
• Sustaining Members - Minimum R50 per month
In order to become a Sustaining Member individuals make a commitment to
contribute to Abrinq a minimum of R50 monthly (a little less than US$50 in 1999).
The categories of Patrons and Benefactors were added to accommodate the launch
of an endowment-building effort in the 1990s. The following is the text and form
used in a direct mail campaign. Abrinq asks for donations and emphasizes the
number of children it has benefited and how support has reached them. The form
asks for set amounts and gives people two methods of contacting Abrinq—phone
and mail. It also asks how an acknowledgement should be made; this facilitates
response and helps people who are looking for a tax deduction.
The Abrinq Foundation for the Rights of Children administers more than 20 projects benefiting
Brazilian children. In order to reach more children, Abrinq needs more partners. It needs you.
With your participation, thousands of children and adolescents will be able to have a better life.
To give you an idea, currently 281,461 children are benefiting from 411 Child Friendly
Companies and 112,083 from 34 projects to improve public school financing through the Believe
It to See It Program. The Living Library Program has already trained 159 educators and provided
84 children’s book collections to 31,365 children. Already the Our Children and Ahead with the
Ball projects benefit 11,773 children, The Abrinq Foundation has arranged for 40 toy libraries in
various cities of the country that are visited by at least 12,000 children and calls on a network of
65 journalists who work in defense of the rights of children and adolescents. Participate. Help to
meet the needs of our children by filling out the coupon or calling 0800 55 1220..
238
I would like to become a Sustaining Member of the Abrinq Foundation and to contribute to
projects that benefit Brazilian children.
Name: ________________________________________________
Occupation: ____________________________________________
Name of business: _______________________________________
Street or P.O. box address: _________________________________
City: _________ State:_______________Zip code: _________
Business telephone:___________________ Home telephone____
I pledge to contribute monthly:
__ R$ 50 __R$ 75 __R$ 100 __R$ 150 __R$200
__R$ 250 __R$ 300 __ Other amount R$ ___________
Payments should be made through a bank draft sent by mail.
I would like to receive acknowledgment in the name of:
__Business
Date: ____/____/____
__Fiscal person
Signature: _________________________
Send this form by mail or fax:
Rua Alberto Faria, 473–Alto de Pinheiros
05459-000–Sao Paulo-SP
Fone/Fax: 0800 55 1220 48
Abrinq maintains a special telephone number through which the caller can reach it
free of charge to respond to requests. the toll-free number is a key element in
accessing potential contributors. The line is reserved for contributors and potential
contributors. Abrinq’s three person fundraising staff manages an average of about 60
calls per month over the line.
As Brazilians do not normally send checks or other types of cash payments through
the mail, Abrinq asks for contributions to be made through a system of bank drafts,
commonly used for making payments in Brazil. At the end of the month, Abrinq
submits lists of these slips to its bank, which directly debits the accounts of its
contributors.
Financial Adoption
In addition to its ongoing drive for sustaining members, Abrinq’s periodic
fundraising campaigns at times take on a life of their own. One example, is the Our
Children Project, which Abrinq launched in 1992. The idea was to create a capillary
system of private social fundraising to assist children in risk situations. Abrinq’s role
is to identify and select institutions that provide direct assistance to children
239
(nursery schools, youth centers, and shelters), and then raise funds from companies
and individuals to support them. Each monthly contribution finances assistance to a
child in these institutions.
Abrinq calls its solution “financial adoption.” Through
monthly contributions,
individuals and corporations fund assistance for one
child. Abrinq manages the
contribution and supports selected institutions guaranteeing the full application of the funds raised go to the
assistance of children, an increase in the number of
children assisted and an improvement in the quality of
assistance. In order to ensure that it can directly monitor the funding, Abrinq limited the program to the
greater São Paulo area where it has its headquarters. Abrinq set up an advisory
board for the project with participation of specialists from UNICEF and Brazilian
companies and social institutions.
Two initial partners were crucial in the launching of the program. The W.K.
Kellogg Foundation gave a grant for the staff and material costs. The Lew, Lara,
Propeg Advertising agency produced a commercial that received wide play on
television stations in São Paulo. The commercial showed a business executive who
begs for money in a reversal of position with street children. The media campaign
started in September 1993 with ads in magazines and newspapers, radio spots and a
TV commercial. It achieved high public impact, wide spread recognition for the
Abrinq name and stimulated a rapid accumulation of funds.
In addition to the media campaign, the project received the support of the
Credicard company, which made its 100,000 person client database available to
Abrinq for a direct marketing campaign. An example of a direct mail marketing
pitch follows:
If nothing is done now, nothing will change tomorrow.
Since 1993, the Our Children Project of the Abrinq Foundation for the Rights of Childrin, has
counted on the participation of companies and persons like you who, through a system of
financial adoption, now contribute to an improvement in the lives of many children and
adolescents.
The complete transfer of contributions to the child-care institutions has the objective of covering
the direct costs of caring for the child (human resources, nutrition, educational material, etc).
Through information and reports you are regularly informed about the activities of the project.
Today 1 3 0 0 c om panies and individuals contribute R$ 9 1 m ont hly to 2 3 8 8 c hildren and yout h who
are cared for in 43 social organizations in the metropolitan São Paulo area.
You t oo should part ic ipat e.
Collaborat e w it h t he Our Children Projec t 48
240
In ten months, the project raised assistance for over 2,000 children, not only
meeting its goal for the first year, but raising twice what it had expected to raise in
the second year. Over five years (1993-7), it raised in total the equivalent of over
US$6 million.
Abrinq reports back to the contributors to the Our Children Program through
semester reports. These reports account for how Abrinq has spent the contributions
it receives, thank the donors and encourage them to keep contributing to the
program. The introduction to the 8th semester report (January to June 1997)
explains:
The story of a mustard seed is known; it is small but it grows into a big plant. The analogy seems
appropriate to us as we finish the quarter in the Our Children Project. What was born in June of
1993 as an emergency initiative has been transformed into one of the most successful Brazilian
projects for the care of children and adolescents, benefiting today more than 2400 children. And
that principally thanks to people like you, our contributors.
Abrinq believes the success of this campaign can be traced to two important factors:
• There are people, corporations and organizations that want to help children and
have the resources to do so but do not know how or what to do
• There are child-care institutions with knowledge and experience, needing funds
but that do not know how to raise them49
Involving Volunteers
Volunteers are fundamental to many of Abrinq’s programs and objectives. Abrinq
seeks to mobilize Brazilian society behind child rights and development. Volunteers
represent not only an important resource in terms of labor and skills but Abrinq
sees them as fundamental to encouraging full participation of Brazilian society in
improving the condition of its children. Abrinq reaches out to volunteers in almost
all its program areas. In some cases, as in the Our Children Project, the extent of
participation may not go beyond a monthly contribution, in others, such as the
Adopt a Smile Program, the volunteer is the heart of the program. In 1997,
Abrinq’s count of the people it had involved through its various projects was:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adopt a Smile Project— 281 dentists
Our Children Project— 1,289 people
Living Library Project— 187 teachers
Child-Friendly Company Program— 902 companies
Mayors for Children Project— 628 mayors
Ahead with the Ball Project— 26 organizations
Child-Friendly Journalist Project— 65 journalists50
241
Volunteers also contribute time and efforts to the development of Abrinq itself. For
example, Abrinq’s 1997 annual report it thanks three volunteers who assisted it on
human resources and legal issues.51
The Adopt a Smile Project was launched by Abrinq in June of 1997 with 15 dentists
and counted over 300 dentists by 1999. The participating dentists pledge to care for
the teeth of a child until the child reaches adulthood. In return they are licensed to
use the Abrinq Adopt a Smile stamp pictured below. Abrinq developed this program
in partnership with DOC (a radiological dentistry company) and a committed
dentist (Fábio Bibancos) who wanted to encourage his colleagues to help children.
Here is a description of the project:
What is t he Projec t
The project is a movement of dentists to give dental health to
children and adolescents cared for by institutions connected
to Abrinq. The goal is that each dentist “ adopts” the dental
treatment of a child or adolescent and receives the stamp
“ Adopt a Smile. ”
What is t he St am p
Dentists who care for a child or an adolescent will be authorized to use this stamp “Adopt a Smile” which shows that they
participate in improving the health conditions of children and
adolescents in our country. Participating dentists can use this
stamp in their practice (for example, on prescription books
and in their waiting rooms). This will be a way for us
to know:
M Y DENTIST CARES.
How t o Part ic ipat e
The dentist should call t (0 1 1 ) 6 7 . 2 2 5 1 and request an
enrollment form and orientation details about how the project
works. 52
References
36
CRY Annual Report, 1997, pg 23.
37
CRY direct mail materials. Undated.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
D’Souza, Anthoy T. Child Relief & You (India): A Case Study. New York: The Synergos
Institute, 1997.
40
41
CRY brochure. Undated.
42
Phone conversation with Vijay Vemulapalli, Management Committee Member, CRY
USA. August 1999.
43
CRY USA. Website: www.us.cry.org/.
44
Abrinq fundraising presentation. August 1999.
45
Phone discussion with Anamarie Wilheim, Executive Director, the Abrinq Foundation.
March 1999.
46
Ibid.
47
Abrinq direct mail source. Undated.
48
Abrinq program brochure. Undated.
49
Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights: A History of Action 1990-1997.
50
Ibid.
51
Abrinq Report of Activities 1997.
52
Abrinq brochure. Undated.